First published 2008
Thirteen-year-old Lakshmi lives in a mountain hut in Nepal with her family. She plays hopscotch with her best friend and tends her black-and-white speckled goat while her mother brushes her hair by oil lamp light. Their poverty runs deep, but these simple moments fill her days. When monsoon rains destroy what little crops remain, her stepfather announces she must leave home to work in the city. Lakshmi sets out on the long journey to India with hope blooming in her chest. She feels proud to earn money and dreams of making her mother proud too. Then the terrible truth emerges. For 10,000 rupees, she has been sold into prostitution. McCormick tells this story through vignettes that follow Lakshmi as she fights to reclaim her life from an unthinkable situation. The novel confronts the brutal reality of human trafficking through one girl's determination to survive.
Genres: fiction, contemporary, social-issues
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fight-for-freedom, survival
Setting: India, Nepal
Period: 21st-century
288 pages · Paperback · Walker Books
Content warnings: abuse, child-abuse, sexual-assault, slavery, trafficking